COLORADO SPRINGS — Lisa Clements' voice warbled with grief. Before her on Monday sat more than 1,000 people, most in uniform, for the memorial service for her husband, slain Colorado Department of Corrections executive director Tom Clements. Beside her stood the couple's two daughters, wiping tears from their cheeks. As she paused to gather her strength, the only sound was the soft whoosh of the New Life Church's heating system.

"It's a challenge to wrap up all (that) the girls and I want to say about Tom," Lisa Clements said. "The love of my life. My hero. The best father and husband you could ever see.

"But in the end, we want everyone who hears Tom's story to know he lived his life believing in redemption and the ability of the human heart to change. He would want justice, certainly. But moreover, he would want forgiveness."

Even in death — even after last week's death at the hands, police suspect, of an inmate released on parole — mourners at Clements' service Monday wanted to ensure that Tom's message was of championing second chances.

Clements treated corrections as a calling. He came to the profession after visiting his uncle in prison, his wife said. He worked inside the St. Louis County Jail before going to college.

When he met his wife at college in Missouri — Clements was the guy who always sat in the front row of their juvenile delinquency class — the two daydreamed of opening a halfway house for troubled men. His belief in rehabilitation stemmed from his faith, several mourners recalled. When his pastor opened one of Clements' Bibles after Clements' death, he found one particular passage underlined: "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."

"He was a great believer in redemption," longtime friend Paul Herman said.

Monday's service was held inside the cavernous New Life Church — not because Clements attended services there but because officials needed a church big enough to hold everyone. Hundreds of law-enforcement officers attended the service, in stiff-brimmed hats and crisp uniforms in austere shades of blue and gray and black and brown.

There were 39 directors and former directors of state prison systems from across the country, honor guards from 14 states and a delegation of corrections officials from Morocco. The Colorado legislature took the morning off, and many state offices in the Capitol were closed so people could attend.

Supported by her daughters Sara, left, and Rachel, Lisa Clements, the widow of Tom Clements, speaks at his public memorial at New Life Church in Colorado Springs on Monday. (Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)

"We need to double our efforts to live up to what Tom was doing," Colorado House Speaker Mark Ferrandino said before the service.

"From people at the grocery store, to the dry cleaners, this has really hit home," said Rep. Amy Stephens, who lives in Monument near the Clements home. "It's sad."

But perhaps the best tribute among the attendees to Clements' beliefs was the man playing piano at the service. He was a convicted killer.

Chuck Limbrick served 23 years in prison for murdering his mother when he was just 15. Shortly after he was released — the result of a sentence commutation supported by a number of officials before Clements arrived in Colorado — he met Clements at a church they both attended. Limbrick devoted himself to religious life while in prison and now works as a church musician.

Corrections officers from the New Mexico Corrections Department in Los Lunas, N.M., prepare their Class A uniforms. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

"I just needed to be encouraged that I could do it," Limbrick said after the service. "He believed in us. He said he believed in me. That's huge."

Clements was a man who sprinted into life, his family and friends remembered.

Hikes with him always went a little farther than planned. Bike rides were a little bit tougher than promised. One time, he took his brother-in-law out on a ride, and, when they returned, the only thing the red-faced in-law could pant out was, "Big hill!" Gasp. "Big hill!"

"He rode his bike," a friend of Clements' wrote in a tribute read at the service, "because he loved the wind."

Gov. John Hickenlooper delivers flags to family members of Cabinet member and friend Tom Clements during a public memorial for the chief executive of the Colorado Department of Corrections at New Life Church in Colorado Springs. Corrections officials and guards from as far away as Morocco were among the hundreds of people who turned out Monday to honor Clements, killed March 19 when he answered the door of his home in a wooded, rural area north of Colorado Springs. (Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)

Clements pursued his work with equal vigor. Gov. John Hickenlooper remembered Clements as a tireless advocate for reducing solitary confinement, providing mental health services to inmates and improving the transition from prison to the streets. When he took Hickenlooper on tours of prisons, the two spent much of their time visiting Correctional Industries, where prisoners learn and apply job skills.

Today, Hickenlooper owns a fishing rod made by prisoners and a dog trained by prisoners. Inmates make furniture and work on cars.

"I almost ended up with a saddle," Hickenlooper said. "And I don't have a horse. It was an unbelievably beautiful saddle.

"He loved it all," Hickenlooper said. "It was part of the belief he had that anybody could be redeemed."

What they're saying

"Often times in public life, there is a sense of us versus them. But with him, there was no them. We were all us."

Gov. John Hickenlooper

"I'm proud to call him my friend. I've been profoundly sad since I heard the news."

Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson

"This is just tragic. Tom was a real reformer of the system."

Colorado Bureau of Investigation director Ron Sloan

"He was just an amazing human being who cared deeply about people."

Colorado Senate President John Morse

"My heart and prayers just go out to everyone, Mr. Clements' family, the governor's cabinet, the community, just everyone."

Colorado Senate Minority Leader Bill Cadman

"Our Missouri corrections family is consumed with grief."

George Lombardi, director of the Missouri Department of Corrections, where Clements worked for three decades

"Serving others is the mark of a true leader, and Tom was committed to serving others."

Cranston Mitchell, a member of the U.S. Parole Commission and a longtime friend of Clements'

"He had the courage to move forward when others would be hesitant."

Friend Paul Herman

"He believed that anything worth doing or worth having was worth the effort. So hikes, bike rides, conversations seemed to be a little bit longer, a little more challenging than any of us anticipated."

Lisa Clements, Tom Clements' wife

"There is not a single one of us who wanted to be here. But there is not a single one of us who wants to be anywhere else because Tom Clements was a man worthy of honor in life and in death."

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